PSALMS

Sunday afternoon, I went up to Des Moines, WA to preach for Joel Byram.  Joel was a teenager when I led him to Christ and now he pastors Open Door Baptist Church which he started.  It was good to fellowship with him, his wife Jennifer, who also was one of our teenagers, his children, and his church members.  Monday I spent time talking to another young man who is going to be starting a church soon and looked at his meeting place.  Then Joel and I played a round of golf and enjoyed spending time together.  Around one in the afternoon, I started for home and got home in time to practice for VBS with the puppets.  We had a huge crowd for a Monday night and the whole auditorium was decorated for Salvation Safari.  What a night!  Looking forward to the week.  I'm in Psalms and here are some thoughts about some verses: 1) EVENING AND MORNING AND AT NOON-  Psalms 55:16,17 read:  "As for me, I will call upon God; and the LORD shall save me. (17) Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud:  and he shall hear my voice."  Sometimes we just don't pray, and other times, we just don't pray enough!  David said:  "evening and morning, and at noon,"  Why not try praying about a specific request three times a day?  It would be a great thing to share our needs with our Heavenly Father often throughout the day. 2) THE EARLY HOUR- Psalms 57:8 reads:  "Awake up, my glory; awake, psaltery and harp:  I myself will awake early."  David said he would awake early to praise the LORD and sing unto him.  (next verse)  Now can we wake up early?  In lands like Israel, the sun sets about 6pm and rises about 6am.  Back in David's day, he would no doubt be asleep before 8pm and rising before 5am.  But we tend in America to go to bed about 11:00pm for the most part and then get up around 6am.  David would have nine hours of sleep and we would get by on seven or less.  The theological implication is this:  If you want to get up early, you must get to bed early!  Maybe we can arrange our schedules differently with the expectation of rising up early! 3) TESTIMONY TIME- Psalms 66:16 says:  "Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul."  Here is a verse of testimony.  The Psalmist says that if you come around, he will give you a testimony of what God has done in his life.  We should be ready to declare what God has done for us, and especially when we have a time to testify! 4) SINKING, CRYING, & WAITING- This is what David says in Psalms 69:1-3  "Save me, O God; for the waters are come in unto my soul.  I sink in deep mire, whee there is no standing:  I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me.  I a weary of my crying:  my throat is dried:  mine eyes fail while I wait for my God."   Here we see the man of God in tough times.... what does he do?  He knows he is sinking and he cannot reach the bottom.  The deep waters are overflowing him; he is drowning in the grief and trials that he is experiencing.  They are overwhelming!  He cries till his eyes are dry and his throat is sore; BUT.... he keeps his eyes on GOD and waits for Him.  We have no other choice, no other option.... let us wait upon our God for deliverance!!  Have a blessed day dear friend!   Pastor Mike Mutchler